Let's stop the blame game and come together now to improve JCPS

Here in our own community we are falling short. We need to be real about our problems, and one of our biggest challenges is our local education system.

Too many of our children are not getting the chance to feel the joy of high school graduation. Even a good number of our graduates are not adequately prepared for a career and the dignity and reward of a good-paying job.

We are witnessing the consequences of our failures in our streets and in our prisons. One thousand lives have been lost to criminal homicides, and more than 3,000 people have been wounded by gunfire since the Louisville-Jefferson County merger in 2003.

A vast segment of our children is giving into anger and rage. The traps of guns and drugs are powerful, but when we can reach children through education, we see the fruits of our labor and the upward mobility that skills and knowledge bring.

ALL community members own our failures regarding education in our county. That’s not to say things can’t change fast. If the state of Kentucky and Jefferson County Public Schools can meet in the middle and work collaboratively, I believe wholeheartedly we will turn a corner.

I know this much. We have well-meaning members of our school board. Board Chair Diane Porter dedicates her life to education and our children and works for nothing but the best for them. Dr. Marty Pollio is a homegrown guy and a proven leader who is raising spirits and encouraging our county to think boldly. Our Jefferson County teachers make big differences every single day and are the people who reach our children and expand minds.

It’s important to acknowledge, however, that help is needed to catch us up to where we need to be. The passion, energy and expertise of Dr. Wayne Lewis, Kentucky's interim education commissioner, should be welcomed, especially given our own failings in some key areas. He says he has new ideas and a strong sense of urgency. Why not give him a chance to work with Dr. Pollio and the board so he can bring accountability where it has not been present?

We can’t waste another minute. Our school-to-prison pipeline has been working in overdrive for far too long, but especially in the last few years. There’s too much at stake and we need more out of our schools today than we ever have before. We don’t need a fight, or a blame game, or to relive shortcomings. We must come together NOW. I believe and pray for a new day for the children of Jefferson County.

Christopher 2X is peace and justice advocate and was recently awarded an honorary Doctorate of Public Service from Spalding University.